Transposing piano



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W, L. HAYS.

TRANSPOSING PIANO. No. 326,871. Patented Sept. 22, 1885.

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TRANSPOSING PIANO.

No. 326,871. Patented Sept. 22, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM LOUIS HAYS, OF GREENWVIGH, COUNTY OF KENT, ENGLAND.

TRANSPOSlNG-PIANO.

- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 326,871, dated September 22, 1885.

Application filed March 24, 1885. (No model.) Patented in England July 8, 1884, No. 9,915.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Louis Hays, a subject of theQueen of Great Britain, residing in Greenwich, Kent, England, have in vented a new and useful Improvement in or Connected with Pianos for the Transposition of Notes Therein, (for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 9,915, bearing date July 8, 1884.) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of pianos in which the string-frame and sounding-board, constituting the back, are made separate from and movable within the case, so as to allow said parts to be moved in order to bring into service an additional number of strings without changing the position of the keys and action.

The invention consists in aspecial construction and arrangement of parts for detachably securing the string-frame to the case and in appliances for effecting the adjustment of said string-frame and its attached parts, all as will be hereinafter fully described, and then set forth in the claims.

My invention will be clearly understood by the annexed drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective rear view of a front or case built up as one article, and Fig. 2aperspective view of the back built up separately as another article, but capable of being set within the front or case and there secured firmly,so as to constitute in effect an ordinary complete piano. Figs. 8 and 4 represent a piano-casing in perspective and cross-section. Fig. 5 represents the crossstay. Fig. 6 isa perspective view of a piano with all the parts in position. 7 is a modified frame for holding the adjustable back in the case. Fig. 8 shows the string-frame or back adapted to be adj ustably held in the pianocasing.

The ease or front can be composed of separate pieces for packing or transporting purposes in a small compass. Such parts can be put together and fastened by screws or bolts, and thus made into a rigid structure for the reception of the back. Thus for removals the two parts or structures, when detached, are easy to handle and to shift about. They are also less liable to damage, particularly when the instrument has to be taken up or down steps and through passages or windows or up or down stairs of dwellings. The two parts being comparatively light can the more readily be carried round corners, and be caused to follow the sinuosities of the stairs and land lugs.

Any means or method can be adopted to secure the back within the front or case; but I prefer to use screws to fix bars in position, which bars can be recessed in the back and attached to the sides or ends of the case or front frame, either at the back portion or at the top, as found convenient.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a wooden back or frame with the wires or strings already strung upon the pins, so that it can be putinto the case, Fig. 1,the actions being then fitted in, in the ordinary manner to make theinstrument complete. Instead of the back being of wood it may be of iron or other metal.

This system of making the case and the frame in two distinct articles is conducive to another speciality of my invention, viz: that of transposition of notes at the will of the player or teacher, and for this purposeImake the rear of the case of greater width (preferably) than the cheek in which the keys are arranged, thus forming an ordinary extendedeud piano of ordinary width, the extra width being, say, the range of half an octave of the musical scale at each end. Thus if the keyboard be for seven and three-fourths or full compass I make the back for one octave more and string it to eight and three-fourths compass. In this condition the back can,when set in the case, be shifted endwise along to the right or to the left by mechanical appliances from the front or from the end or ends or from the rear of the instrument; and to enable this shifting of the back to be accomplished I fit the lower inner part of the case with a pair of rollers, A 13, Figs. 3 and 4, on which the back can rest. These rollers are set in an iron strap, 0, attached to or in a piece with uprights D D at the ends, to give rigidity to the case at those parts. The upper ends of. the uprights are shaped to receive a transverse bar, Fig. 5,as a stay or tie to the case, said bar being lodged in a groove, E, of the back to serve as a sup port and as a guide to the back at the upper part; or a separate skeleton frame, as at Fig. 7, may be arranged to receive the back, in which case the skeleton frame and the back can be removed from thei'ront afterloosening the binding-screws.

The appliances which I prefer to use for shifting the back along is a lever, F, as at Figs. 4 and 6, this being pivoted at G and capable of being moved by the handle H by theplayer into any of the notches of a segmental plate, J, fixed under the front. The opposite end, K, of the lever is forked, and engages in or over a stud or staple, L, on the back, (see Fig. 8,) a pin, M, with an index -finger, projecting through the case, as at Fig. 6, indicating the shift of the back to ahigher or to alower pitch, as desired by the performer, the shift being then locked by a foot-lever, P, of pedal shape, whose inner end is arranged to enter the required tooth of a serrated plate, N, fitted on the back.

I is a rod connected with the pedal 1? for removing the damper from the strings and the lever from the serrated plate simultaneously while the shift takes place.

I am aware that a cast-iron frame for sup porting the strings or wires has heretofore been detachably connected to the outer case, and also that a piano-forte has been made with a movable part or frame for producing a transposition of notes; but these I do not claim, broadly.

Having fully described my inventiomwhat I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination ofthepiano-case having the horizontal lever F, provided with forked inner end and outer handle, H, and thecurved rack-plate J, with the adjustable string-frame and sounding-board having a projection, L, for making a detachable connection with the lever F, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination of the adjustable stringframe and sounding-board provided with the rack N, with the case. having the lockingtreadle P, and means, substantially as shown, for moving said string-frame and its attached parts to the right or left, substantially as herein set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

XVILLIAM LOUIS HAYS. \Vitnesses:

RICHARD Conn GARDNER, J AMES Gnonen NEWMAN, Both of 166 Fleet Street, London, England. 

